Wow, the professor just quoted Severus Snape. That was very impressive. Rafe loved it when professors incorporated legends into the lesson. "I think what people view as a dark creature, jump to conclusions. Society in both the muggle and magical world have misconstrued some of these creatures. Too many people jump to conclusions rather than getting a full understanding as to what got these creatures to be defined as 'dark.'" Rafe certainly was speaking from experience.

"Some of these so-called dark creatures have been persecuted for years, so I think over time they've developed more aggressive tendencies. For example, a unicorn wouldn't be considered a dark creature because they've been glamorized with how beautiful they look and how majestic they are. But, with any threat, they'd be just as aggressive as some of those labeled 'dark creatures." Rafe hoped his answer would suffice. It was probably going in the opposite direction of what the professor was talking about, but she did ask for their opinions.

Nora listened carefully to everything that professor Glass was telling them, and it was pretty... fascinating, even though the topic was the dark magic.

Since she didn't have any questions, she raised her hand to answer the question. "A dark creature exists to cause harm, and I don't think that their nature can be changed," if that made any sense. Like, you know, a crazy, wild cat. You can tame it, eventually, but you'd never do that to a dementor. "And..." ahh, she was going to say something stupid. "Does the appearance count? Sometimes?" Well, dark creatures looked creepy, didn't they?

Freya was trying really hard not to zoom out when the Professor explained to them about Dark Arts. Then after a very long talked about the Dark Arts, Professor Glass asked them about the Dark Creatures. She quickly shoot up her hand "Professor Dark Creatures are not animals they're actually another form of magical being." Well at least that what she read. "They attack for the sake of hurting someone, not simply to eat. Not like predators, they attack someone to eat them so they can survive."

Cora raised her hand politely, and when she was called on did not hesitate like she did before. Dark animals always haunted her dreams, and although she didn't know very much about them, she thought she would give it a try.

"Dark animals don't have the same life cycles and life-sustaining requirements as other animals," at least Cora thought that was what she had read. "They normally feed off harming others, and they tend to scare people a lot. I think sometimes they can be largely misunderstood. But I think most dark animals are beyond our help, and cannot be brought to light."

Cora looked up at the professor expectantly. She was learning quite a lot about a subject that simply scared her. AT least when she spoke this time she was somewhat audible.

"A dark creature is a creature that is sentient and will go out of its way to harm another sentient being, such as a Dementor, or a Boggart," Samuel said, hoping he was correct because he knew that in later years he would be taught spells in DADA that are used against such creatures.

For the most part, William had attempted to write down everything that Professor Glass was saying, But halfway through, his hand began to cramp and he stopped. Instead, he sat motionless, straining his ears to make sure he heard and comprehended everything the Professor said about the Dark Arts. He massaged his hand while listening, and wish he hadn't forgotten his spellbook. However, he did have a question for the Professor, and he slowly raised his hand into the air.
"Professor," he said slowly, trying to best formulate what it was he wanted to say. "What exactly do we need defending from? Didn't Harry Potter defeat Lord V-Voldemort over three-quarters of a century ago?" As far as he was aware, Voldemort was the last known Dark Wizard to have gained power and invoke fear on both the Muggle and Wizarding worlds. As for dark creatures, William was so busy with his current lessons that he hadn't gotten a chance to take a peek at his Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them. Instead, he sat and listened to the other students answer the Professor.

Dark creatures...Kurumi frowned. They were a breed that Kurumi wished she could pretend that they were misunderstood - although she sometimes still felt so about kappas. "Professor, dark creatures differ from regular magical creatures in a few regards. One aspect is that they do not have what we would consider a life cycle. There is no cycle of birth, life, and death for them due to their existence being an extension of evil itself." She frowned a bit. Using terms like evil were always so...vague to her. "They are magical in nature, which is similar to all magical creatures, but they use those magical abilities to bring harm to others because that is what they do. While we may say that a lion is evil for hunting an antelope, they do so because they need to feed. Dark creatures will not. Red Caps are a prime example of this." She paused once again to take a breath. "It is important to remember that just because a creature may seem mean, it does not mean they are. Pixies can be annoying and bring harm to others through their tricks, but they are not Dark Creatures...just rude."

She answers my question slash answer!!! Janice thought. And called me Miss!! That was the first time. Not that she doesn't want her to answer it, but she didn't expect her to do it. She feels important.

Dark creatures? Janice raised her hand to answer the question and answered.
"Well, you can't really differ dark creatures from the light creature that isn't dark. For example, giants. Most people think that they are ALWAYS up to no good; they 'always' want to hit and destroy everything in their way but what if they're actually nice things that was just misunderstood? And I don't think that an official differentiation-" Is that even a word?"-or boundaries that has been established so people could easily differentiate them."

And when she finished on saying her answer aloud, she took a deep breath to fill her empty lungs.

Willaim raised his hand. Dark Creatures like Dementors hid their face and Boggarts his in closets so I beleive dark is their nature" Willaim told the professor. Non-dark creatures like house elves help the Wizarding World and I beleive Goblins can be good or bad, but not really dark" Willaim said to the professor. " The difference between the real bad dark creatures is daekness and the other non-dark creatures are seen by everyone" Willaim explained to the professor.

Jez's hand shot up. "A dark creature's aim is to harm or hinder other beings, whether it be just annoying the victim like a Hinkypunk, or totally destroying them, like a Dementor. But I suppose Dark creatures are based on a wizard's perception on them - for example, giants are supposed to be horrid creatures who would rip anybody's head off, but some sources tell us this isn't true." She had read Giants: Are They Really So Bad? by Rubeus Hagrid the previous year, and the book had given some pretty insightful truths on how unfair wizards are to giants. "So maybe Dark creatures are characterised by what we humans believe is evil."

OOC: Yes, I did make up that bit about Hagrid's book. I think if he ever did write one, that it would be about that subject.

Selina listened to the Professor's in-depth explanation and then puzzled at the next question they posed. She had never really thought about it before- the difference between a dark creature and a regular one. I mean, sure she knew that they were generally much scarer and inflicted pain on their victims, but then couldn't she argue that animals had to inflict pain on their prey if they wanted to eat? Then she knew what her answer would be, "Well Professor, we all can recognize that omnivores and carnivores all need to inflict pain upon their prey to eat. This is just the facts of life, however, a dark creature aims to inflict more pain then necessary and even hunts to cause pain and general discord."

Jonathan listened as the professor discussed the world of the dark arts. Too often, what is 'dark' is not the magic, but the wizard or witch behind it. True, the question always relies upon the wizard and his intentions to why he cast a certain spell in the first place. Was it of revenge or out of anger? Or was it for protection?

The next question was up: How does a dark creature differ from the ones that are not.

"professor" Jonathan raised his hand to answer the question. "Dark creatures differ from the other magical creatures because of the fact that these certain creatures harms the lives of others and they do not feel sympathy to whoever they do give pain." dark creatures are just simply scary in a different range. "One example would be the Dementors. Dementors are known to be guards of Azkaban but they are the most dangerous dark creature wizards like us could encounter. Dementors will kill anyone, young or old, that comes into their way." It's nice if they can already produce a patronus charm but not all of them can. A patronus charm is an advance level of magic, so it could be quite difficult to teach first years and second years to conjure one.

There!! There!!! He knew they did corrupt!!! Had anyone seen a non-corrupted person using them and meaning it anyway? And there...the professor, kinda, had mentioned what he had been trying to explain. Only using a magic for a bad purpose did not make dark. But...about them being justifiable? Josh surely did not agree to that.

He could remember what the dark wizards in the Knockturn Alley was like two years ago. So, it was a huge NO to him. Using Dark Arts was never justifiable and ALL of them were unforgiveable if one happened to ask to the Gryffindor boy. Yet he did not find it...really appropriate to jump up and argue this with the professor for the class was...maybe no place for it. Perhaps he would be able to discuss it with her alone, later on.

However he was still Josh Carter so he could not help it and jumped on his feet again. ''But professor!'' he exclaimed totally forgetting to raise his hand ''I think the difference between good and bad and dark and light are being mistaken here!!! The difference between good and bad cannot be easily identified as it is hidden within the real intent of the person. But the difference between dark and light is VERY obvious and there is no 'dim' area there!! Once passed to a dark side.....one is always dark.'' Then remembering he had not raised his hand at all.....he did it right after his words were over sooo it was kind of...awkward. Standing on barefeet on the cold-stone floor was feeling awkward too.

With the rest he agreed with the professor...of course...hoping she would not take more points for standing on barefeet or gave another detention. Eh...whatever. There was this question about dark creatures.

Sitting down he just listened to the others' ideas about what a dark creature was. Oooooor...he mostly paid his attention to Evelyn when she spoke and when she was not speaking and when she did nothing at all. Giving her a little smile, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder while raising his other hand to speak about dark creatures.

''Well...professor. It looks like we are all certain that they are not animals and they harm other living beings and stuff. But i prefer to put them maybe in a slightly different category.'' he did not know how he could explain that oh but whatever. ''I mean while a dragon is a known wizard killer because it is vicious and it meant to kill that wizard because well...it is vicious. They are not considered dark creatures. Those dark things...they exist only to harm, right? They do nothing but that. Dragons have other things to do.'' Did that make sense? Hahaha. Umm. ''Professor i also think dark creatures do not naturally exist but they were created by a wizard or witch for stupid and evil purposes. Simply because...well...i don't think the mother nature needs them and you know, there is a good reason in nature for every thing to exist. Right? There's that balance of nature. Dark creatures, as i thought of it, do not fit in that balance''

Geraldine's expectations were right even before this class started, she knew all along that the subject would interest her, because there wasnt any dull moment since the class started. There were many reasons for this class to be interesting, first,it was about the dark arts(Geraldine was usually a fan of taboo topics,well not that she practices them,she's just interested in talking about it), next, it feels like we're in an army(learning how to defend ourselves and stuff),and lastly we have a very beautiful professor(come on, who doesnt love a pretty professor,the ugly ones just bore you to death anyway,not to mention scar your eyes for looking at such....nevermind). Anyway, rejoining Geraldine's thoughts to the class, Professor Glass,asked the whole class about dark creatures.

Geraldine was still a bit hesitant,but decided to voice-out her answer in the end. Geraldine raised her hand, and when it was her turn to speak she looked at the professor and said,“Professor, some creatures are considered dark because of the fact that they may have harmed witches or wizards countless of times, matter of fact, any creature magical in nature, that harms or injures a person a few times and if the actions of such creature can be justifiable it may not be considered dark,but if the said creature has done it several times without justifiable reason then the said creature could be considered dark” and with that last remark Geraldine smiled(subtly,she didnt want to look so eager) and took a seat,noticing her legs shaking,Geraldine has never spoken so long in all her life,but either way she was contented by her answer.

Orchid raised her hand tentatively. "Professor, a dark creature is one that has the intent of hurting someone or something else without any justifiable cause, some are born like this and others can do it out of pure spite, but that's not always the case." She said as she lowered her hand.

Jory raised his hand and attempted to answer the question the Professor's question. "Well, Professor,'' he said ''Dark creatures are the ones that attack people. Animals have some intelligence like humans but still they may attack even if they ''think'' its wrong. Creatures that aren't dark are friendly towards people and may even try to protect their owners such as a dog that assists a blind person.''

Hugo raised his hand. "A dark creature is always magical. While a regular creature may hunt or attack to get food or defend mark their territory, a dark creature seeks only to hurt," he said.

Again, Raven tried to answer the question

"I think, The dark creatures is always magical and they always attacked human and sometimes unusual. For example is dementors, who always attacked human and 'kissed' them, they steal people's happiness. Another example is basilisks, who attacked people by the fangs and the yellow eyes."

Daphne hesitated before raising her hand. "Professor, dark creatures are those creatures that like to feed on negative energies..right? Like, fear?" She tried to think of something else to add.. "..also, they look really scary." Bleh. That was so obvious. She should have probably just kept quiet. Sigh.

Corey (who had grinned, unfazed at the professor's initial reaction to him, and managed to hold his tongue rather than point out that actually, she hadn't put any limitations about when someone was supposed to be taking NEWTs or not, just if they had chosen to pursue it) remained silent throughout the discussion about what dark arts WERE.

It was weird, he thought, that people had so many different ideas about it. Seriously, wasn't the point of dark arts that it wasn't definable? That it either was extremely against society's morals, or murky and as proved here, debatable? Corey reckoned it was easier than that. If you could say something was 'light' or 'good' then it wasn't dark. If you couldn't? Then maybe, just maybe, it was.

As for the creatures question, well he casually stuck his hand up for that one.

"Professor the textbook lists three main ways that a dark creature differs from a regular ol' creature. Obviously the first one is that they're magical in nature; they don't have a regular life-cycle, like they're made rather than born, and don't really get old and die like a regular animal would, and they don't have baby dark creatures either; and the last one the textbook goes on about is the malevolent intent. Dark creatures seek to harm. They don't kill to survive, they don't even need to eat really. The negative intent of the dark wizards what made 'em is infused in their very being. They're the physical embodiement of evil. Thats what the textbook says."

But he wasn't done.

"There are also dark creatures which survive off manipulating the emotion and fear of their victims. Sure sure, some of em' are just about the killing, but there are others that feed off the good stuff, happiness and hope and all of that, they inspire fear while sucking out all positive emotions. Other dark creatures, you can take more steps to, you know, not die. But the ones that manipulate your emotions, if you're caught unawares, you might just lay down and let them have you, or be so consumed by fear or hopelessness that you can't even bring yourself to fight them off. Society generally agrees that its wrong to mess with the free will, or the feelings of a person.

Lots of the laws the ministry enforces are about that, and a bunch of the things that make the dark arts supposedly dark sorta tie into taking that free will away or interfering with the emotions of someone else, as well as causing pain or death for fun or whatever. But people have the right to feel what they want to feel, and do what they want to do. So dark creatures that manipulate those things, that kind of makes them especially dark I think." Corey offered his answer with much thought.

Jesifur sat taking notes, half the first page was already filled with tiny writing. She hurried to write all the important points down. The teacher was asking tons of questions and everybody seemed to have a bunch to say. Jesifur wanted to say something as well but everyone was making such great points she did't want to miss writing any of it down. She agreed with most of them that intent had much to do with something being dark arts or not. Now they were discussing dark creatures. There are a ton of supposed dark creatures who have gotten a bad wrap in the wizarding world. Where to start? Giants, no someone said that, unicorns were mentioned, hippogriffs. A chimera is a dark creature, also griffins, doxies, grindylows and dragons. Manticores are dark creatures as well as, Kappas, Basilisks, Nundus, and pogrebins. Oh, so many notes to take...

Violet had been listening to the other students--much of what she knew about Dark Creatures had already been said, but she thought she had better participate so she raised her hand and waited her turn.

"Dark creatures are by nature magical, have unusual or incomplete lives, and cause harm for no particular reason, like the others have said. I'm not sure they actually have intent, though--it seems like they cause harm or evil because it is their nature to do so, it's like a part of what they are. Some dark creatures are Pogrebins and Vampires and ... I have a question, too, I've heard werewolves are considered Dark Creatures, but I'm not so sure that's true. They are just ordinary people who had the misfortune to get bitten by a werewolf, and most of the time they wouldn't necessarily be any more evil than they were before, would they? And when they have transformed, it seems like they don't really know what they're doing any more, they just attack out of instinct, so would they really have the intent to cause harm?"

India was so shy she hadn't piped up yet. But now she was ready to speak - after all she liked Dark and Light creature discussions.

"Dark creatures can manipulate emotions into being more depressed and dark themselves and example of this is a Pogrebin is a good example of a dark creature influencing someones emotions. However they do this to survive because they then eat the person."

Oh god. She brought up canibalism. Ew.

"However when compared to a much lighter creature like a flobberworm you can see that they are far less harmful than the Pogrebin in general." And less dark. Much less dark.

Ooh... "Well, dark creatures... like... Hinkypunks, do bad stuff for the sake of it but..." she thought for a minute. "There are creatures like Pixies who are mean and all that to protect the Peppermint Toad Stools. So, what I'm basically saying..." Aurora finished. "Is that dark creatures live to cause harm and creatures who do dark things can often be doing them for protection or something."

"Well... might as well take a swing at answering this.." Jayden thought to herself, and raised her hand. "A dark creature is a magical being that seeks out to harm, to hurt, or to kill. They aren't like normal beasts and animals, and they don't have a normal or complete life cycle, they are pretty much the physical form of dark magic."